[NO] Skadi the Malamute Partial by FurFancy Costumes The item being reviewed is 7 years old and may not reflect the makers current style, or work. General Information Please note that this review is from an older version of the site. The page layout differs slightly from the current version because of this. Reviewer Information Reviewer Twitter: wildcypresswolf Relationship With Maker The maker WAS a friend when the item was purchased, but they are NOT a friend now Prior Experience Yes, I own several other fursuits and I make fursuits myself for a living Informed Maker of Issues Yes, I messaged the maker after wearing the suit for a couple hours with most of the issues I had, but in order to avoid conflict as the maker WAS my friend at the time, I didnt disclose everything to her, and downplayed the issues at hand. But that was wrong of me to do, it was eating away at me and I am now mentioning all the issues because I feel it’s right for others to know about it before they decide to commission this maker. Wear Time 2+ hrs Maker & Project Information Maker FurFancy Costumes Commission Information Type: Fursuit > Partial Style: Toony Shipped From: USA Species Alaskan malamute, dog Found in Canidae (?) Made in Year 2019 Transaction Information 1700 USD paid in a lump sum Filed under $1000 - $2999 as a Lump Sum. Estimated Completion Time (ETA) Accuracy NO - MULTIPLE ETAs were passed Date of Review 24 March 2020 Project Timeline Contact Date Jan 21 2018 Completion/Ship Date Oct 7 2019 Item Completion Time (?) 13 - 23 Months Item Being Reviewed Skadi the Malamute partial in a toony style as a commission. Character Concept Art Photos of Completed Product Head Wear Satisfaction The head is very comfortable! It fits well, and sits nice on my face. The comfort of the head was one of the things I mentioned to the maker when I received the suit. It’s light and plush, and they used the custom print liner inside like I requested. The inside is lined very nicely, with no foam exposed. I like that very much. The ventilation is ok, it’s not awful but it’s not amazing either. The tongue on the fursuit is stuffed, which blocks about 50% of the mouth. I feel if the tongue was flat, it wouldn’t impede the mouth hole so much. The vision is okay, I’d say about same as the ventilation: it’s not awful but not amazing either. The eye holes are pretty small and far apart, so there is a sizable blind spot in the middle. That being said, both the vision and ventilation aren’t bad and didn’t impede my experience wearing the suit. The wear and fit of the suit is very nice! Visual Satisfaction When I first received photos of the finished product I was ecstatic. She looks adorable! These are the exact photos I was sent. I didn’t think too much at the time about it, I was just excited my suit was finally done and from appearances of these photos, she looks great! Fast forward to the day I unbox the suit. I unbox her, and the face is horribly lopsided. The lower jaw is so off, it’s the first thing you notice. Upon seeing this in person , I can’t believe I didn’t notice it in photos, until I look back and realize she never sent me any straight on photos. Even the finished product photos (see link above for the screenshot), there is not one straight on photo. When I mentioned it (and the other issues I had), she admitted to knowing that the jaw was off, and THEN sent me the straight on photo showing the asymmetric lower jaw. She said she “tried her best to fix it”, but I fixed it in 10 minutes. She then said her 2015 casted bases are asymmetrical, but I saw the base before it was furred and it was not that off, so this seems like an excuse rather than admitting to making a mistake. If she was honest with me, I could have helped her fix it before it left her studio, but she hid this fact from me which is one of the big reasons I’m posting this review. The shaving on the face is okay, it’s not horrible by any means but, there are some obvious areas where it could have been taken down further, especially on the muzzle, and some areas where it was taken down too far, like around the eyes. The fur is the exact fur I had picked out and sent links for the commission, so I was very happy with the furs used. I am somewhat satisfied with the expression and overall appearance. I asked for a hand carved base, but I received a 3d printed cast. I asked for her older larger bowl style eyes, I received the smaller new 3d printed style eyes. All of these details were forgotten by her when I mentioned it, but I didn’t push the issue or ask for the eyes or base to be remade, as I was already asking a lot of her by requesting specific furs and materials, so I just let it go. But in the end, the fact that she forgot these requests or somehow misunderstood them made me very disappointed. I wish she would have clarified with me which eyes I wanted, which base I wanted, before she began work. She thought I wanted her older 2015 style base, when in reality i was just asking for the bowl/larger eye style from that base, and I asked for a hand carved base because I thought that was her best work (and still do). I can achieve multiple expressions, though I prefer how she looks with the eyelids on but the eyelids don’t stay on the head very well. I asked for removable eyelids, and they mentioned they hadn’t much experience with eyelids but were willing to try. I mentioned I had extensive experience with eyelids, and suggested using velcro as velcro is easy and magnets can make shaving difficult. They insisted on using magnets. I guess they underestimated how magnetic the magnets are, and accidentally gouged the fur around the eyes near the magnets with the clippers. Without asking me, or anything, they went ahead and glued some brown felt strips over the top of her eyes? I really don’t like them, they aren’t on my reference sheet and I didnt ask for them. To top it off, the eyelids never stayed on anyways (didnt use strong enough magnets), so they ended up having to use velcro anyways. The gray spots on her muzzle were not sewn very well, I can part the fur and see the threads and even some foam through the gaps and the inside of the mouth has glue smears. The final outcome does match my character in terms of design, except for the light brown felt pieces above her eyes. As I said, I was very pleased with how the suit came out overall, until I was lied to about the asymmetry. Hands and Feet Wear Satisfaction The hands and feet are very comfortable and fit perfectly. My first commission from Furfancy was a seperate pair of hands and feet, and I was very pleased with those, and returned again and bought a full partial because of it. They feel durable, but they mentioned that the spots on the pawpads were too small to sew, so she had to glue them with fabric glue. I wasn’t 100% happy with this when she told me, but so far they are holding up. The handpaws are a little bit short, with only an inch from the dewclaw to the cuff, so my skin shows at the right angles. Both the hands and feet are lined with the custom lycra i chose, and it looks fantastic. The feet fit perfectly because they used the shoes I provided. Visual Satisfaction The hands and feet are adorable, the hands are soft and squishy, and I love the small claws. The feetpaws are perfect. There is nothing wrong with the feetpaws at all, I adore them. From the adorable spotted beans, to the perfectly shaped toes including the dewclaw, the feet are everything I imagined and more. They both match my character design perfectly, and the furs and fabrics are the exact ones I chose so I’m very happy with those. The hands and feet specifically are my favourite part of the suit. Tails Wear Satisfaction The tail is comfortable and light to wear. They used a kidney belt like I asked, as I wanted a very upright curl with a wag, and they achieved just that. The tail is perky, upright and wags adorably just like a real malamute. The tail did unfortunately come with a hole, I found it before even putting on the suit. She admitted to “hearing a pop” but couldnt find the hole (though I found it within 5 minutes of digging along the seam, I always check). Visual Satisfaction The tail is absolutely perfect from the outside, it’s the correct shape, it sits right and looks like my character. They used the furs I asked for. I love the tail. Overall Product Satisfaction How was your concept art realized? I feel the concept art was accurately realized. The markings are consistent with what is on the reference sheet. How well does everything fit together and match up? Everything matches up, except for the armsleeves which were so big they are completely unwearable. The markings are consistent, everything meshes up just fine. The costume is somewhat consistent with the makers style. The fursuit itself was stopped and started over the course of a year while she worked on other things, so older materials and techniques were used and she had to revisit it. In my personal opinion, the suits that they released immediately after making mine look much more polished and a better example of their style. Overall Project Quality To be honest, no. The head is the first part of the suit everyone looks at, and its lopsided. While it was easy enough for me to fix, I shouldn’t have to fix my brand new suit. I ended up fixing the suit, altering it, and selling it. In the end the reason I sold it was because the commission process was so horrendously hair pulling that I couldn’t stand to look at the suit without being reminded of how I was treated. I was treated like a nuisance rather than a valued customer. The entire experience soured me on wearing it, even though it fit well and was comfortable to suit in. That’s why this was so distressing, and I waited this long to post the review. I agonized myself over if I should just fix the suit and keep it, or sell it and recoup the cost. I ended up deciding to sell it because the experience was bad and I couldn’t forget that no matter now much I tried, and that ruined it for me. Purchase Process Initial Contact Easy to initially contact the maker. They posted a “quick turnaround” sale on Facebook for their third slot in queue, advertised as finished for or shortly after Anthrocon 2018. This is what enticed me to purchase. Maker Response Time At first, their response was very quick. But some days I’d have to bother them in their public chat to read my PMs. We first began communicating via FB messenger, but we switched to Telegram halfway through which I feel is where some of the confusion started as some of my requests made via FB messenger were forgotten. Maker Professionalism At first, things were great. They came off as professional and friendly. They were happy to discuss different furs, and were patient with me as fur selection is very important to me. I appreciated their patience with me, and I told them many times that I did and i apologized profusely for being picky. But when the time came to actually work on the suit, our communication became less professional. Alot of their messages contained spelling errors, or I had to clarify what they meant exactly. Often i was confused. My suit was stopped and started over the course of a year. I noticed that often excuses were made as to why my suit had been pushed back in the queue, and it was difficult to get proper updates from them as their update channel is in mostly voice logs that include 8 minutes of their personal life amongst 2 minutes of their work. I simply do not have the time to listen to that. When I confronted them about the delays, I was met with attitude and resistance, rather than compassion and understanding. Any time I brought up a dissatisfaction, they turned it around to make it my fault For example, when I mentioned that the head was lopsided, they said “yeah that’s why I don’t like using my older bases”, but 1: I never asked for an older base, and 2: the base is not lopsided (see the screenshot regarding the base in the head section above). Rather than humbly admitting she made a mistake, she turned around and made it out like it was my fault for “selecting” that base when I never selected it in the first place. I asked for a hand carved base. Project Completion Time I was told that the slot was “number 3 position in the queue”, and was told it would be finished for Anthrocon 2018. I received the suit in October 2019, nearly two years past the deadline. Deadlines do not matter so much to me, but two years past the deadline isn’t good. Once complete, the suit was shipped in a timely manner, tracking was provided. They used usps. Rating FursuitReview rates by asking the question: Would you recommend this maker? NO This review has been marked with a negative rating. This means the reviewer would NOT recommend FurFancy Costumes unless they significantly change their practices. Final Comments Pros: – beautiful work when left to their own devices – maker is experienced, and their talent clearly shows with how well certain areas are built. Cons: – poor communication – poor time management – forgets details about your commission – does not work well under direction or pressure – will lie about things to try to make the commissioner look in the wrong, when they simply just want answers Sadly, I will not be working with this maker again. It does make me very depressed, because I did consider this maker my friend before all this happened, and this was my second time commissioning them since the first time was so great. I told them right as I commissioned them for this suit, how important this character was to me. I told them this character is my love for my partner embodied as a fursona, and the suit felt lifeless and rushed. Are you the maker of this item? Would you like to leave an official response? Click here. In case the button above doesn't work, you can click here to launch the maker response form.
